6 Weight Training Mistakes A Newbie Should Avoid!

We have all been there at one time or another, whether you are young or just inexperienced in fitness and joining a gym for the first time. You just signed up, got changed and you are now standing in the room wondering what comes next. You are nervous and unsure where you are supposed to go or do.

This is nothing new and it is ok for you to feel like this. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this, you will know what mistakes to avoid and be on the right path to meeting all of your bodybuilding goals.

Knowing What Not To Do Is Crucial Too

There are plenty of articles catered to helping beginners figure out what they should do in the gym or weight room to get leaner, stronger, and more muscular on Bodybuilding.com. My goal is to cover what you should not do while lifting. Avoiding mistakes is as crucial as knowing what you are to do if you want success in the weight room. Don’t do any of these next six mistakes and you will go a long way in the gym.

1. Don’t Lift Without A Trainer!

You Will Want Someone To Teach
You The Proper Way To Do Exercises

You would think this one is obvious. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this happen and the victim gets injured and ends up quitting weight lifting forever. There is a right and wrong way to do every exercise and you won’t learn the right way without someone teaching you. It is as simple as that. Regardless of how many magazines you have read or how many videos you have watched in the past, have a trainer show you what to do and then have him or her watch you to make sure you are performing the exercise correctly.

2. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Questions!

You are not to be expected to know all there is to know about the weight room in one day, one week, or ever as a matter of fact. Everyone is learning and the only way you can learn is to ask someone. You should ask your trainer, but if for some reason you can’t then ask someone who is in between sets. Most folks will take a minute or two to help out a newbie because they remember being newbies themselves. If you still feel uncomfortable, then when you get home, log on to Bodybuilding.com and look it up or ask folks on BodySpace. You will get your answer for sure.

3. Don’t Try To Impress The Big Guys!

I know how intimidating it is to be in a weight room and the next potential World’s Strongest Man is over there lifting every plate in the gym. You feel like you want to prove you belong and you try to set a world record. The only record you set is the response time of the local EMTs. You name the person and he or she had to start somewhere. So do you. It is ok to start with a light weight to make sure you have the form down and know what muscles you are supposed to feel working. Eventually you will get to where you are lifting the heavy iron, but it takes time. That actually leads into the next tip.

Don’t Rush To Lift The Heavy Dumbbells.
You’ll Just End Up Injuring Yourself.

4. Don’t Waste Time On The Opposite Sex!

Let’s be serious. We all started this endeavor for many reasons. One reason is common among all of us. We want to hook up with some smoking hot girl or some ripped up dude and there is no shame in admitting it. The fact is though, although we all want to meet our future love interest in the gym, there is work to be done. You are not going to build up that body to impress people if you don’t work at it. For now, avoid staring and trying to get the attention of the hottie and focus on the task at hand.

5. Don’t Be Impatient!

I don’t want to burst your bubble or your ego, but this isn’t going to happen overnight. That is just a fact of life in bodybuilding and fitness. Have you ever heard the expression “good things come to those who wait”? Well, it kind of applies here. Although you should work at achieving your goals, being patient and knowing that it comes with time will keep you from getting frustrated and that will keep you motivated to train in order to eventually meet those goals. Deal with curling the 15’s or 20’s for now and with time and effort, you will get to the bigger dumbbells. Patience is definitely a virtue in this game.

6. Don’t Be The “Intense Guy!”

I am sure you see him and if you don’t, you sure will hear him. In every gym there is the one guy who feels the need to scream his head off and yell with every rep like his life depends on him accomplishing it. The fact is most people look at him like he is a few plates short himself. You can put in hard work and give effort without being the star of a fitness horror movie. The grunting and screaming isn’t necessary to make yourself appear strong, intense, or “hardcore”. Save yourself a lot of humiliation and don’t do this.

Screaming With Each Rep Doesn’t Make You
Intense, But It Will Make You Look Silly.

Conclusion

Now there are some things that just can’t be taught in the weight room. A lot of knowledge in lifting comes with experience but these six tips I just gave you will go a long way in helping you master the iron and get you on your way to accomplishing all of your bodybuilding goals and then some. Best of luck on your iron journey!